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This paper analyzes some aspects of Latin American social movements, especially their notion of participatory democracy. In order to explain what they are and how they solve the problem of political organization, following Zibechi, two countries are studied: Brazil and Bolivia. In the first, powerful rural social movements have emerged, but they have lost part of their political role during the years of the PT's progressive government. In the second, urban social movements have emerged that have transformed a country whose government lias decided to carry out an antiliberal political-economic reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship among politics, power, communication and culture are here examined, along with the new technologies role in that relationship. It is emphasized the function of universities in the production of useful knowledge for the citizens in their political and social relationships, specially in the construction of their political discourse in democracy. The paper of the media political protagonism is here criticized, while opportunities offered by the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution and the new laws and regulations are underlined, considering them as tools for citizens empowerment in their rescuing of the speech in the political scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades now in Latin America, and especially in Venezuela, there has been talk about the need to transform universities. This, as might be expected, generates a great debate among those who still cling to the corroded structures of higher education institutions for the privileges they bestow and those who desire a new form of university. This paper tries to contribute to the great national debate generated in Venezuela by the Ley de Educación Universitaria (University Education Law; 2010). Emphasis is laid on the importance of radicalizing university democracy and introducing critical thinking in the curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of the analysis of the history of ideas in Latin America, which is a field of thought that contributes to recovering contributions from diverse fields of knowledge, and which has been focused on by intellectuals who consider our identity to be a theme of reflection. Luis Beltran Prieto Figueroa was one of the more influential intellectuals in 20th Century Venezuela. This paper touches on some of his works, such as Joven Empínate, El Estado y la Educación en América Latina, El humanismo democrático y la educación, La política y los hombres among others, and through philosophical discourse analyzes his ideas in relation to the fundamental doctrines of democracy, their interpretation of reality, and their positions in reference to education, politics, poetry, and nationalism as a dignifying attitude in Latin American countries in the face of the power of the United States. Among the conclusions we find the characterization of his ideas in favor of truly democratic education, the intellectual commitment with the noble aspirations of the people, his ability in studying the Venezuelan reality, and his gift at overcoming factors which were an obstacle to the technical and cultural development desired in Venezuela and Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]